This article is part of a larger legal-constitutional project aiming to close the gap between the EU's normative commitments to socio-economic justice and the practical workings of its economic integration project. It focuses on the Internal Market, and the changes required in the CJEU's case law if the EU is to achieve an EU level social dimension as an intrinsic element of its Internal Market. It argues that the Charter of Fundamental Rights for the European Union commits the EU to a constitutionally conditioned Internal Market, because it curbs property rights and entrepreneurial freedom specifically in order to safeguard social rights guarantees. The concept is then applied to devise an alternative judicial answer to cases such as Laval, Viking and AGET Iraklis. In doing so it demonstrates that it is possible to reinstate socially embedded constitutionalism at EU levels as an alternative to relegating social integration to national levels.Gap between the EU's normative commitments to socio-economic justice and the practical workings of its integration project -- Potential for strengthening the social EU by recourse to the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union - Charter normatively commits EU to a constitutionally conditioned Internal Market - Charter curbs property rights and entrepreneurial freedom specifically for the sake of social rights guarantees - Constructive response to legitimacy dilemmas emerging from cases such as Laval , Viking and AGET Iraklis - Reinstating socially embedded constitutionalism at EU levels as an alternative to relegating social integration to national levels.

This book is concerned with the social legitimacy of internal market law. What does social legitimacy entail within the multi-level 'embedded liberalism' construction of the internal market? How can the objectives of the internal market that focus on economic rights and a commitment to social diversity both be pursued without one necessarily trumping the other? These questions continue to challenge the very core of European integration. How can the diversity of Member States' 'social systems' and the varying normative infrastructure of their economies be sustainably accommodated within the internal market? This book seeks to contribute to these questions by discussing what has come to be known as the argument from transnational effects and the development of an adjudicative model for the European Court of Justice that can be termed 'socially responsive'. Drawing on the historical insights of Karl Polanyi it argues that the internal market can only be held to be socially legitimate where it supports the requirement for further market integration while still responding to social practices and values within the member states. The book presents in-depth studies of the case law of the Court in the areas of EU free movement, competition and state aid law. In so doing, this important new study aims to provide the language and tools for assessing social legitimacy in the internal market.

This edited volume brings together leading authors and actors in EU internal market law and policy, revisiting the classic themes in a contemporary context and considering (re-)directions for the future. The EU would not be where and what it is today without its internal market. It is the cradle of the EU's most important legal doctrines and the source of the most significant amount of European integration. And, as Brexit has underlined, it remains the primary political reason for EU membership. Considering the well-established and fundamental nature of internal market law, it is striking to find many crucial doctrinal questions still unanswered today, as explored by this book. Furthermore, these questions now find a new legal, social and political context: one that is acutely aware of the contested nature of the EU and its policies and the need to embed the internal market project in a broader setting of constitutional norms and values. This need is made all the more pressing by the rapidly changing and often disruptive technological context. The various contributions to this book contribute to finding a new direction for continued European integration in changing times, by rethinking, and where necessary reinventing, the role and purpose of this area that remains the EU's beating heart.

This is an open access title available under the terms of a [CC BY-NC-ND 4.0] License. It is free to read, download and share on Elgaronline.com. This thought-provoking book examines the socio-legal mechanisms that drive EU constitutional tensions, as well as the role of principles and values in re-directing EU law and policy towards a democratic Social Europe. It addresses the current limits of Social Europe in relation to different areas of EU law, offering a critical assessment of the present status of EU integration.

This detailed Commentary explores the boundaries of social rights at a European level through analysis of the Revised European Social Charter (RESC), the most comprehensive regional document on social rights. The Commentary considers the treaty as the counterpart of the European Convention on Human Rights, examining how it sets out fundamental rights in the social field. It focuses primarily on the rich jurisprudence developed by the Charter’s monitoring body, the European Committee of Social Rights (ECSR).

Is there a real and meaningful future for EU constitutionalism? This collection explores this question in light of recent challenges to EU constitutional law; namely the pandemic and the political schisms emerging across the European Union. The contributors explore the question through the prism of the five main pillars of EU constitutionalism: the constitutional values, the EU formal constitutional framework, its substance consisting of the EU political and economic constitution, and conclude by looking at the foundational concept of sovereignty (national and European) in a global realm. Drawing on expertise from both 'old' and 'new' Europe, it gives voice to the most fundamental question facing the Union in its second half century.

The Internal Market Ideal is an essay collection honouring Professor Stephen Weatherill. A reference to his seminal work The Internal Market as a Legal Concept (OUP, 2016), this volume celebrates Weatherill's scholarship and examines the legal issues surrounding the semi-integrated market of the European Union.